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by her wimple. Fortunately, the whole headdress was merely unseated. Impatiently, Alinor seized it, pulled it back up and then forward, off her head completely. Somehow the ribbons that bound her braids had become entangled in the cloth of the wimple. Ruthlessly, she tore those free also. Her long black hair streamed behind her as she rode, as wild as any maenad. |
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Suddenly there was a burst of barking from the alantes, mastiffs, and hounds. The boar had been sighted. The noble huntsmen called encouragement to the dogs and spurred their horses to greater speed. Alinor saw a man struck by a heavy branch fall from his mount. Caught in the passion of the chase, she did not even turn her head or wonder who it was. For some reason the boar had not remained in his earth. The beast had chosen to run. Behind she heard a crash. A horse had gone down. Caring nothing, shouting and hallooing, the hunting party careened on in pursuit of its prey. |
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Then the belling of the raches changed to excited yelps which told a new story. The boar had found a place to make a stand. As the riders came closer, they could distinguish the snarling of the larger hounds. The men called encouragement and leapt from their horses, automatically testing the soundness of the crossbars on their boar spears as they ran. If the crosspieces affixed about 18 inches up from the head of the spear were to give way, the boar would run right up the weapon to get at the man at the other end. Pain seemed no deterrent to the great fierce beasts; it seemed rather to stimulate them to wilder attempts to savage their attackers. Next, hands went to loosen hunting knives in their sheaths. With about 20 stone of struggling, slashing wild boar on the end of one's spear, a knife that would not come free spelled injury or even possible death. |
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With some difficulty Alinor checked the pace of her mare, but she did not stop completely. Her eyes gleaming, she allowed Velvet to fret herself forward. None of the other women had yet arrived, but she could hear |
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